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Feeble mind your self for while

Ok if your reading this you mostly like a Dungeons and Dragons fan already! and will ignore any advice and judge your self i can nto make you not watch this..

you know the mass market disliked the the 1st film, how did you feel? ask your self?

I myself liked the 1st, It had its many ropey bits but it felt like D&D, its no Conan film or Hollywood superhero special effect blockbuster or even a Harry potter,Film 2 is more of the same though slightly grittier in story, and slightly more mentions of the Generic D&D world gods and monsters this film has no comedy characters the same low word count acting, and special effects lacking ummpf!

The plots speeds along fitting to much in and glossing over what in the dice game would have been, some quite good OOOOooo story moments! the evil monsters lack evil and forebodingthe heros lack Heroic stature and presencethe plot barely simmers

Its Straight to Video its should be straight to Bargain bin soon, where i'll pick it up then.

You'll watch it, maybe weep a little and say there are so many better better D&D plots books and characters out there and then move on,

Im a big fantasy sci-fi fan i'm sorry to say this film is lacking in all areas and just barely merits a low ok because of a little fandom

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An improvement on D&D1 but doesn't reach its full potential

Being a huge Dungeons & Dragons fan, I found myself greatly disappointed by the first movie, after the hype surrounding it the actual result was appalling, bad acting, terrible plot and poor special effects. When I heard there was another movie in the pipeline I had mixed feelings, there was great potential for a truly amazing movie or they could repeat their first mistakes and produce and enormous pile of dung! Tentatively I started watching.

First I will provide you with a brief summery of the first film as one of the characters makes a large appearance in the 2nd movie.

Dungeons & Dragons-"Empress Savina Rules over the magical empire Izmer. The young thieves Ridley and Snails get involved with her quest to find the legendary Scepter of Savrille. With this most desirable magical wand she could have the power to rule over the Red Dragons and she would then be able to provide freedom and equality amongst all people. Ridley and Snails are closely followed by Damodar, the cruel assistant of Profion who is longing for the power of the Scepter. Profion wants to get into battle with the Empress. Whenever Profion would get his hands on the Scepter, the whole empire would then forever live in darkness. The future depends on the braveness of Ridley and Snails..." Written by ItsPeet IMDB.com

Dungeons & Dragons Wrath Of The Dragon God-Over 1,000 years ago, the powerful mages of Turan defied Falazure, the Dragon God bringing death their land. The mages finally defeated Falazure and imprisoned him in Hearth Mountain and sealed his powers in a black orb hoping hold the dragon forever. Villagers seek the aid of Berek the former captain of the kings guard after 2 men who were exploring the caves went missing, with the help of his wife Melora he discovers the story of Falazure and realizes the Empire is under threat.

Thanks to an evil curse that Profion placed on Damodar, the warrior has come back from the dead. After centuries of pursuing an ancient artifact Damodar finally acquires the mysterious black orb by fighting his way through a whirling vortex. Having released himself from his curse Damodar aims to set free an ancient evil upon the city of Izmer, an act of revenge against the ancestors of those who placed the curse upon him, it is up to Berek, Melora, a talented magic user, and a small group of heroes to stop the evil before it destroys the city. Together the heroes must face Damodar and his evil army, survive dungeons and mazes as well as face the might of the god of undead dragons.

My Opinion-Well it's not all bad, the story is slightly more convincing then that of the first film and whereas the first movie was very Americanized and modern in its attitude, the second film strives to be a more traditional fantasy movie. It draws a lot on the AD&D gaming rules, which unless you are a player you wont notice however it gives the film a little more realism within the world of fantasy films, spells go wrong, heroes die, mistakes are made. Although the early demise of one character does leave you asking "what was the point in that guy?" other than of course to be able to include the CGI white dragon.

The movie is clearly much lower in it's budget then the first movie, the big name stars are reduced to Bruce Payne who played Damodar, this is to the films advantage though as Marlon Wayans as Snails the thief in the first movie just wasn't convincing, we all knew who they were and what other roles they played, meaning they could not be believable in their roles, at least with relatively unknown actors we could concentrate on the story in front of us instead of thinking "wasn't that guy in The New Adventures Of Superman" The casting isn't great though, Mark Dymond as Berek is too lightly built and middle aged looking to make a convincing AD&D warrior while Clemency Burton Hill as his wife Melora is inappropriately cast as the magic user, Lucy Gaskell as Ormaline looks far from how you would imagine an elf to look and as for Ellie Chidzey as the barbarian Lux, well she was definitely put in for the boys as your typical barbarian description is not blonde, beautiful and curvy. The lines are often delivered badly, very wooden and verging on cheesy at times, while you expect a bit of swashbuckling talk you also want them to talk like real people, for example "Come, villainy. Death awaits you" a line delivered by Lux as she stands alone in front of a portal spewing flying harpies, when you are unsure as to the nature and size of what you are about to face you should not be so gung ho or cliché.

The special effects are mixed, some are quite impressive especially the CGI beasties, however the money invested in them was clearly taken from elsewhere on the project leaving some of the backgrounds, props and costumes looking more like the Blue Peter crew had helped make them, Damodars make up when "undead" is a clear example of this and is far from convincing as anything more than a rubber mask.

The soundtrack is nothing special, it could be taken from any low budget sci-fi fantasy movie. A combination of different instrumental pieces meant to represent the moment- danger, excitement, sorrow.............

So you can gather I wasn't exactly impressed, while it is a faint improvement on the first film it has no where near reached its potential. This is a series of films that could equal Lord Of The Rings, if only someone could put in the funds, effort and a bit of real passion. Let some real AD&D fans come up with the plot, cast and direct it, maybe that way you would finally be offered a Dungeons and Dragons film worthy of the fans faith in them.

It's one of those films that you can follow easily and flows well, it's an OK film to watch but nothing spectacular, if you're after a different fantasy movie then give it a go but if you want a great film, full of amazing talent and effects then this is not the film for you. I would recommend it to potential buyers purely because it's better than the first film, if you can sit through such films as "Legend" and "Dragonslayer" then you'll easily manage this one

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Returning from the undead, Damodar wants to rase the black dragon to seek revenge

~Background~This is the second film made from the game and supposedly follows on some 100 years after the first film and based on the Dungeons & Dragons paper and dice game which has been going on for an amazing 30 years. Not a game for the imagination deficient or mathematically inept, it challenges individuals and groups as dungeon masters unfold challenge after challenge in a imaginary universe of Elves, halflings and Orcs. Games consist of one Dungeon master and up to 4 players (sometimes more), with the dungeon master being the only one that knows where the game is heading.

~ Film Summary ~Damodar returns from the undead, seeking revenge on the city that caused his master to curse him. He quests to wake a sleeping dragon, the black dragon of destruction. Can Berek, Lux and the team beat him to the pip? Will Berek's wife Melora die and become undead before revealing the key to Damodar's defeat?

~The DVD~The cover is black and actually rather good in regards the art work. It certainly has more in common with all the D&D concept art you can find all over the internet, as well as in many , many books. Coming in both widescreen and standard formats, there is no feel of loss when watching in standard non letterbox format.

~Special Features~No special features. That or I missed them. However I have a fondness of playing to find any hidden easter eggs, so the chances are there wasn't any little titbits to play with.

~Price & Availability~ New and Used from Amazon for about £3.50 - £4.50

~Opinion~Well, I had to admit, I got very confused to start with with this film. It has a huge tendency in the beginning to 'assume' you have watched the first, and know how/why Damodar was cursed. Unfortunately I watched this one first and got completely lost!

In the original film Profion (Jeremy Irons) cursed Damodar (Bruce Payne) with a time released curse to make him a undead zombie unless he completed a certain task, which he was beaten too by the previous set of 'heroes'. However, Damodar DID provide Profion with the sceptre and Profion supposedly removed the curse, followed shortly after by Damodar taking a plunge off a tower after a misplaced fight lunge. So I am still confused, as according to the last film the curse was removed!

Acting wise I would have to say in compared to the first film things seemed a little less forced, however, in some places it seemed way over rehearsed and a little soap opera ish with lost of people moving deliberately to look at each other.

Also, unlike the first film, the focus on graphics was lessened. What 'animations' or fancy works there was were certainly very well fitting with the film as a whole and aided the storyline beautifully. However, whilst on the subject of scenery etc, some times the sky looked out of place, and (after watching the first film) I am a bit bemused as how a huge bustling city has turned into moreover a castle and town in around 100 years.

In relation from Game to Film, I would definitely say this film is a lot more like the game than the first, however although it seemed to have had more 'love' spent on the storyline and dialogue rather than a overzealous attempt to be CGI impressive I still felt something was missing. The acting was rather good, there was only one carry over character, no real big (or almost big) names to carry it, which wasn't a bad thing. Most if not all the actors were British.

The formula still isn't quite right, but is certainly leaps and bounds closer to the mark than the original movie. Its just a big pity this film made no attempt at cinema release.

~little fact~British viewers will recognize Roy Marsden who plays Oberon in this film. He has been in many TV shows such as Dr Who, Captain Good in King Solomon's Mines and Adam Dalgliesh in the 1997 film Original Sin